Code Geass: The March of Time
by Marcus Finch
Summary: Lelouch swore that if he ever got a second chance at life, he would fix all his past mistakes. But when he is thrust back in time to before the Black Rebellion, can he fulfill his promise and change the world for the better...or will he unintentionally make it worse? Time Travel fic.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rebirth

The year is 2018 of the Imperial Calendar. The Empire of Britannia has seized control of the entire world under the leadership of 99th Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia.

Lelouch sighed and looked up as his convoy continued its procession down the road. It was a cheerful sunny afternoom, a perfect contrast to the tragedy unfolding before him and his captive audience. By defeating his elder brother Schniezel El Brittania, Lelouch had taken control of the world's only stockpile of Field Limitary Effective Implosion Armaments** (F.L.E.I.A's) **and destroyed the last vestiges of organized resistance to his rule. Now all that stood between him and absolute victory was simply the execution of his enemies. Once the last remnants of the Black Knights were dead, Lelouch's victory would be perfect.

Or so it seemed to the world.

In reality, Lelouch knew that his "victory" was far from perfect. In fact, couldn't have possibly turned out worse. When this had all began, all Lelouch had wanted was to was create a better world for his sister Nunnaly to live in. For Nunally had been the only truly good thing Lelouch had in his life, the person who had mattered the most to him. She had always given him all her love and kindness, and he wanted to fulfill her greatest wish in return.

He glanced down at Nunnally, forcing himself not to flinch when she turned away from his gaze. He knew how she must see him now, how much she must hate him. Little over a year ago, he had been the center of his little sister's world, and today he was the tyrant who had sentenced her to death. When he had thought Nunnaly dead, he had intentionally donned the mask of a tyrant, a monster upon whose shoulders all the world's hatred could be focused. He could only hope that once this was all over and he was gone from this world, Nunnally would someday come to understand the truth, that everything he had done had been done for her.

'If only things had played out differently...' Lelouch thought.

He was snapped out of his somber train of thought when the procession suddenly came to a stop. "What is that?" Cried Jeremiah Gottwald.

'It's time...'

A lone figure blocked the path of the procession. Almost immediately the crowd recognized the figure as the self-proclaimed knight of justice, Zero. But like Lelouch's "victory", appearaces were decieving. Lelouch knew that beneath that ebon mask was really his childhood friend and rival Suzaku Kurrurugi. To bring peace and atone of his past Suzaku would kill Lelouch. Once he was dead, the whole world would come together to recover from his rule. For once, the nations of the world would commit to united collaboration, rater than competition with one another.

The knightmares guarding the convoy opened fire. Had the target of their fire been any ordinary man, he would've been torn to shreds in an instant. However, Suzaku was no ordinary man. The geass placed upon his mind forced him to survive, no matter the odds or circumstances. Suzaku dodged, his geass forcing his body to evade each shot with superhuman speed.

"Cease fire! I'll take care of this interloper!" Ordered the Knight of Orange as a hidden blade shot out of his sleeve.

Jeremiah charged forward, swinging his blade in an arc towards Suzaku. However, Suzaku's geass drove him on once again and he leapt over Jeremiah at the last moment. He continued forward, pushing himself off Jeremiah's back with his foot for momentum and launching himself into the air towards Lelouch's transport.

In an instant Suzaku leapt past Nunnaly, then Schniezel, then he was right in front of Lelouch, drawing his sword in preparation for the final blow.

"Impudent fool!" Lelouch shouted as drew his hidden firearm, playing the part of the tyrant until the last moment. Suzaku easily knocked away the firearm with his blade and prepared to drive the sword straight into Lelouch's heart. For a single moment, Lelouch allowed his mask to fall, and let Suzaku see his genuine smile of happiness as the sword entered his chest.

There was a great deal of pain, but really that was to be expected from a lethal stab wound. Lelouch was probably only still standing because the sword was still stuck in his chest, preventing him from bleeding out entirely. But even through the haze of pain, Lelouch forced himself to continue on, passing on a geass to Suzaku. "You will live on, always serving as a knight for justice and truth. You will no longer live your life as Suzaku Kurrurugi. You shall sacrifice the ordinary pleasure of life for the benefit of the benefit of the world for all eternity."

"This geass, I solemnly accept." Zero replied, and removed the sword from Lelouch's chest.

Lelouch unable to hold himself up any longer, Lelouch stumbled forward and tumbled down the ramp, sliding to a stop beside his sister. Lelouch was only vaguely aware of his surroundings now as the last of his lifeblood came pouring from his wound. He almost thought he heard his sister say she loved him, but he couldn't tell if that was real or merely a hallucination brought on by blood loss.

Lelouch spoke one last time, saying his last thoughts aloud.

"yes... I am the one who destroys worlds, and also creates them..."

And with that, Lelouch's vision began to blur, fading out further and further until he could see nothing at all.

* * *

The first thing Lelouch realized when his vision refocused he was he was not standing in an ivory palace above the clouds, nor was he in a plane of fire and brimstone surrounded by the screaming of the damned. Instead, he found himself standing in a filthy warehouse surrounded by dead bodies. He gasped in shock.

"What? How?"

What was going on? How the hell did he get from a parade float surrounded by an armed convoy to a warehouse God knows where? Possible scenarios began flowing through Lelouch's genius mind. Had everyone mistaken him for dead and just dumped his body somewhere as a final insult? No, that was preposterous. It was impossible for that many people to believe him to be dead. For a person of import such as he, there would have to be expert coroners who would examine his body and confirm his death. Then there was the matter of the Black Knights who knew about his Geass. No doubt they would've attempted to examine his body in order to find out exactly how the mysterious power they believed he'd used on them worked. Not like they would've had any results, but it was highly unlikely they would have just looked him over then dumped him somewhere.

That's when he saw the bodies. Dozens of Japanese and Brittanian corpses lay sprawled all over the floor of the warehouse covered in dirt and blood. Many of the bodies were riddled with holes, most likely shot with automatic weapons, Lelouch thought. He also noticed that the majority of the bodies were shot facing away from the door, like they were trying to run when they'd been gunned down.

As horrific as the scene before him was, all of Lelouch attention was soon drawn to the body laying at his feet.

A body with lime green hair…

"C.C!"

Lelouch knelt down to the "corpse" of his companion. He knew that C.C could never truly die, but that didn't explain how or why they were in the warehouse. Upon examining her "body" closer, realized that she had been shot in the middle of her forehead. The bullet appeared to still be lodged inside her head, which prevented major bleeding. However, it would also make it difficult for C.C to revive, her body having to first expel the foreign object.

"Troublesome witch," Lelouch muttered under his breath as he wiped a trickle of blood of C.C's face with the sleeve of his school unifo-

Wait.

Lelouch was dressed in his uniform from Ashford Academy. Not only was he wearing his uniform, he was also wearing his favorite pair of school shoes, a pair he had lost the day he met C.C when in the Shinjuku Ghetto. He'd had to leave them behind when he'd changed into that soldier uniform. He could tell it was the same pair because the left shoe had very faint tire marks on it from when Rivalz had absent-mindedly ran it over with his motorcycle one day when they were coming back from some gambling. Any suspicion that someone had set this up evaporated. There was no way any of his former subordinates could have created an elaborite setup with such a minute level of detail.

Lelouch undid the front of his uniform shirt, searching his chest for the wound where Zero stabbed him. He only saw that here was absoultely no trace of the lethal bounding whatsoever, meerly a couple fresh bruises. Brusies that Lelouch knew he had recived the day he got his geass when a Brittanian Commander had punched him in the gut.

'This can't be….'

There was only one explaination left in Lelouch's mind and that explanation sounded impossible. There was only one way to find out. Lelouch activated his geass. He could see from his reflection in the slowly growing pool of blood on the floor that his geass only manifested in one eye. Then he willed it to deactivate. It actually worked, and the glowing red sigil disappeared from his left eye, fading away as sudden as it had appeared.

'There's no way that could happen!'

Lelouch knew his geass was stuck in a permanently activated state, a side effect of use his geass multiple times. The only person Lelouch knew of who fully manifested and could still activate his geass at will was his father the Emperor, and Lelouch was sure that the man had never developed Geass Runaway. There was no possible way for Lelouch's geass to have somehow regressed. 'Unless…'

Before he could finish the thought, the wall in front of him exploded. Lelouch brought up his arms to shield his face as dust and wall fragments flew past him. A knightmare emerged from the hole. The massive cyclopean war machine activated its eye and began to scan the warehouse.

"What happened here boy? And why is there a Brittanian student in a place like this?" an imperious voice questioned from the knightmare. It was a voice that Lelouch knew all too well. Villetta Nu, Pureblood Knight of Brittania turned unwilling pawn to Zero. Lelouch could not respond, too lost in his thoughts as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

As ridiculous as it seemed, as impossible as it might have been, Lelouch had somehow been sent back in time.

It sounded impossible, but so did immortal witches that could bestow mind control powers when he though about it. "Answer me now!" Villetta demanded as she fired several warning shots from her rifle. Lelouch stood unfazed, already knowing that the shots would harmlessly fly just above his head. 'This will be easy,' Lelouch thought. 'Now, what was that trick I used on her again?'

"Please don't shoot! My name is Alan Spacer, my father's a duke." Lelouch said without a hint of dishonesty in his voice. "Nobility?" Villetta said aloud, clearly confused. "I can prove who I am. My I.D is in my breast pocket. Once you verify who I am, I'll request your protection." For a moment there was silence from the knightmare, then Lelouch heard the frame power down as Villetta emerged from the cockpit.

She drew a small firearm from a holster on her uniform and began to advance towards Lelouch. "Remain where you are. I'll take out your I.D myself." Lelouch smirked triumphantly as his geass activated. "Of course Ma'am, but _I need you to do something for me first._"

Villetta visibly relaxed as Lelouch overrode her mind, the arm holding the pistol fell limply to her side. _"Of course milord, what do you require of me?" _She said in a servile tone, in the voice one would use when speaking to a member of nobility. "First, I need your knightmare. Then I want you to forget ever seeing me here." Lelouch ordered. He didn't know exactly how Villetta had discovered where to find him the first time, but removing any memory that might remain of this brief encounter most likely eliminated the best lead she might have.

_"Of course milord. The code number is X-G-2-1-G-2-D-4."_

For a moment, Lelouch entertained the thought of putting a bullet in the back of Villetta's skull before taking off, but remembered the theory of the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect was a theory about time travel that indicated that small changes here and there could lade to major consequences in the future. Killing a future enemy might be hazardous in the long run, as he really had no clue what the woman had done between this point and the start of the Black Rebellion. He decided that for now, he would just play it safe until he was certain he could deal with any unforeseen consequences to his actions.

Lelouch let C.C's body lie were it was. He knew that C.C had managed to find him just fine last time on her own, and couldn't take the risk of carrying a dead body around if things took a turn for the worst. For a moment, he wondered if he wasn't the only one with memories of the future. 'Hopefully yes,' he thought. As nice as it would be to have Suzaku or Kallen on his side from the beginning, the thought of Charles Zi Brittania having knowledge of future events frightened him.

Lelouch sped off into the ghetto, regardless of whether they had memories of the future or not, Lelouch had an Ace to save and a battle to win. A couple blocks away he used the slash harkens of the knightmare to scale the side of the ruined warehouse and got in position at the vantage point he would rescue Kallen at. Sure enough, Kallen's red Glasgow came speeding around the corner, pursued by two Sutherland frames. Kallen was an ace, but even a piot with expert skills didn't stand a chance against two sutherland while piloting an old Glasgow.

Lelouch turned his radio's frequency to Kallen's cockpit. "The west entrance." Lelouch ordered over the radio.

"Who's this? How the hell did you get this code?"

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that if you want to win you'll follow my instructions. Now take the west entrance."

"To win?"

Just as Lelouch expected, Kallen followed his orders and leapt up onto the tracks, speeding toward the oncoming transport train.

"Since you trusted me, you're going to win. Now jump onto the train."

Kallen obeyed, and the lead Sutherland was forced to stop his pursuit to stop the train coming right at him. "You! Go after the Glascow!" the pilot ordered his subordinate. "Yes milord!", the other pilot answered as he jumped up to pursue Kallen. Lelouch fired his slash harkens, catching the Knightmare and midair and sending it flying off the overpass.

"You there! What's your name and unit? We're after the one armed Glas-" The Leader's orders were interrupted as Lelouch unleashed a hail of gunfire, blasting off one of the Sutherland's legs and critically damaging the frame. One round actually punctured the cockpit, and the sound of a sharp intake of breath came over the speaker.

"Y-you...B-b-bastard..." wheezed the pilot in audible pain.

Kallen turned the Glasgow around and charged the fallen frame with a battle cry. The pilot still managed to eject however, and the ejector seat flew off into the ghetto far beyond Lelouch or Kallen's reach. "You saved me!" Kallen excamied with relief. "But how did you get ahold of a sutherland?" But Lelouch was already gone, speeding off into the Ghetto to a second vantage point.

He tuned his communicator to Ohgi's channel. "Are you the one in charge here?" he asked, although he already knew the answer. "Yeah..." Oghi said clearly suspicious. Just who exactly was this guy? Was this some sort of trap?

"I present to you the contents of that train. They're tools for your victory. Now all you need to do is follow my instructions..."

* * *

Suzaku Kuururugi wasn't sure how he should feel about this recent chain of events. On one hand he was glad to have been given an opportunity that he hadn't though possible even in his wildest dreams. His eccentric new boss Lloyd had not only revived him, but also gave him an opportunity to finally change the world as the pilot of the Lancelot, the world's first seventh generation Knightmare frame. But he was also disappointed, for in the bottom of his heart Suzaku felt that he had deserved to die. It was all because of his sins that Japan was the way it is today, a decaying ruin of its former self. If he hadn't killed his own father, than maybe Japan could've won the war and remained a nation. Then maybe Lelouch and Nunnally...

Suzaku shook his head. Now was not the time for doubts and second thoughts. Suzaku was set on this path and determined to see it through to the end. Regardless of the past, he now had the chance to change the future. And Lelouch might still be alive, and as long as there was that chance, Suzaku had to fight on for his sake. As much as he deserved death, he wouldn't let his best friend suffer if he had the chance to save him.

"Lancelot, Launch!"

Even though Suzaku had braced himself, he was still momentarily stunned by the speed of the frame as it accelerated into the streets of the ghetto. He was amazed by the almost graceful way the frame could cut sharp corners and weave around the various debris and fallen building around the ghetto. Suzaku's marveling was cut short as a torrent of gunfire came at him from his left. The short bust of fire barely scratched the heavily armored frame, and Suzaku quickly spun about. At first he couldn't see the source of the gunfire. In the abandoned and dilapidated ruins of the ghetto there was a thousand and one different places for a gunman to take cover.

"Suzaku, try searching for heat signatures." the voice of Lloyd's assistant Cecile Croomy suggested from the console. "Right." Suzaku pressed a series of buttons on the console and the display went to infrared. Sure enought, he could see a terrorist knightmare frame taking cover inside the hollowed out ruins of an old warehouse.

The Lancelot closed the distance in a second and smashed through the wall right next to the enemy frame, catching it completely off guard. "What the fu-!" the pilot started but was cut off when Suzaku had the Lancelot execute a spinning kick right to the knightmare's "face", smashing the frame and sending the pilot ejecting deeper into the ruin.

Suzaku didn't have time to marvel at the ease by which he took down the other frame as he immediately caught sight of an entire group of Sutherlands moving away from him deeper into the ghetto. He made to pursue them, but was stopped by another hail of gunfire behind him. He reacted with lighting reflexes, spinning 180 degrees and immediately firing his slash harken at the advancing enemy frame. His aim was dead-on, catching the knightmare directly in the torso and exploding it in a plume of flame.

Suzaku heard another rifle roar, and quickly maneuvered out of the way just as the wall he was standing in front of was shredded. From his cover in the warehouse he could see with the Lancelots inferred vision three knightmare frames advancing on his position, with two more taking cover in ruined buildings on both sides of the street. Suzaku clenched his teeth in frustration.

"My, my, these chaps are quite organized for terrorists, aren't they?" Lloyd noted. He almost sounded as if he were enjoying himself with this turn of events. He probably was. The Lancelot was his life's work, no doubt he was excited to see how it would fare against an opponent.

This was bad, the Lancelot could tear through these frames like a knife through butter but they were all spread out. In the time it would take to finish off this group, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to find the other withdrawling frames. These terrorists lived in this ruin, probably knew how to spread out and vanish if given enough time. As long as they had all that cover in the ruined buildings, it would take ten times as long for the Lancelot to finish them.

Cover in the ruined buildings...

That's it!

Suzaku had an idea, it was risky, but with the Lancelot, he just might pull it off. Suzaku backed up, if this was going to work, he needed a running start. "Private Kuururugi, just what are you doing?" Lloyd asked over the channel. Suzaku didn't answer, he had to concentrate he had one shot to take them all down, if he failed, it was all over.

'This is for you, Lelouch...'

Lancelot launched forward towards the wall of the warehouse. Using a fallen piece of wall as a ramp, Suzaku launched the Lancelot into the air and went flying through the roof of the warehouse towards the Sutherlands. At first the terrorists were too stunned to move, then began firing at the airborne knightmare.

Flying through the air, the Lancelot had no way to dodge and a hail of bullets pelted the armor. 'Now!' Suzaku began spinning the Lancelot in the air and deployed the slash harkens. The Lancelot spun through the air like a tornado of blades as the harkens smashed into the buildings containing the Sutherlands and effortlessly cut wide arcs in the foundations.

Already strained having to support several knightmare frames, the buildings began to crumble from the new structural damage. Soon the guns inside the buildings went silent as the ceiling collapsed and they were buried under several tons of metal and stone. But the Lancelot continued flying through the air, and as the slash harkens withdrew into the frame as the Lancelot came down on the three Sutherlands on the street below, taking them all out at once as Suzaku decapitated them all in a single spinning kick."I did it!" Suzaku sighed with relief as the Lanclot stood back up. "Well done Suzaku!" Cecile cheered. "Yes, yes, very impressive Private Kurrugi." Lloyd chuckled, sounding quite amused.

Suzaku was feeling quite happy himself. He could do this! With this knightmare, he finnaly had the opportunity he had been dreaming about. With this knightmare, Suzaku would gain the confidence of Brittania and rise to a position to infulence policy. He would finally be able to make the world a better place. And if Suzaku died along the way... Perhaps that's what he deserved.

But now was not the time for such thoughts. The battle was not over yet.

Lancelot turned and charged forward into the ghetto in pursuit of the terrorists.

* * *

Lelouch thought the battle went rather well the second time. Clovis and his men had rolled in expecting an easy massacre of defenseless Japanese. He had been totally unprepared to take on an opponent that was equally equipped as his own. The force of the Sutherlands combined with Lelouch's genius had easily overwhelmed Clovis' forces and once again forced the prince to break the encirclement surrounding the ghetto, giving Lelouch a path straight to the command vehicle.

The Lancelot had still posed quite the challenge however. There was absolutely no hope to defeat the more advanced frame in direct combat at this point, so the best Lelouch could've done was withdraw as many of his forces as he could. Lelouch did this by using a portion of his forces as a distraction while the rest escaped into the ruins. After making sure none of his future black knights were among them, Lelouch sent the "Suicide Squad" charging at the Lancelot from multiple directions.

While the Sutherlands were still be no match for the formidable frame, the multiple lines of fire had made it more difficult for Suzaku to maneuver, giving the rest of the Black Knights a chance to escape. While the Brittanians would never realize it, this had been something of a win-win for both sides. The Lancelot had proven its worth to the military by taking down some of the terrorist forces, and Lelouch once again proved his value to the resistance fighters. Not to mention it had bought him more than enough time for Lelouch to reach Clovis and force the ceasefire.

"Halt! You are approaching his majesty Prince Clovis' personal transport! State your business and identify yourself! " the guard at the military checkpoint barked while leveling his rifle at Lelouch. "Yes sir. There is an important matter I must discuss with Prince Clovis personally. _I need you to escort me to him at once._" "_Yes milord. Right this way please." _Lelouch allowed his geassed thrall to lead him though the halls of the personal transport, only stopping to geass anyone who saw him to leave the transport. Finally, they came to the double doors Lelouch knew led into the command center.

"_That will be all soldier. You may return to your post now_."

Lelouch watched as the soldier gave a stiff salute and marched back down the hall. Once the man rounded the corner Lelouch entered the command center.

At first nobody seemed to notice Lelouch's entrance. General Bartley was barking orders to his subordinates in a desperate attempt to salvage the operation, while Clovis was just lounging back in his throne and staring absent-mindedly out the window at the smoking ghetto, looking bored out of his mind. He didn't look at all like he was ever going to regret the countless deaths he was responsible for today. Lelouch took the opportunity to prepare himself for what was to come. Last time, killing Clovis had torn his heart out. Like Clovis had said right before Lelouch shot him, they didn't have the same mother but they were still brothers by blood.

Speak of the devil, Clovis finally seemed to notice Lelouch slowly edging towards him from the corner of his eye. "And who's this then?" Immediately every pair of eyes in the room was turned on Lelouch. "Who the hell let you in here?" Bartley shouted in outrage. "This is a restricted area! Military offices on-"

_"Everyone leave now."_ Lelouch made sure to have his back turned to Clovis so the Geass wouldn't affect him.

Immediately everyone in the room made thir way to the exits, totally ignoring Clovis' protests. "Bartley? Guards? Where the devil are you all going? How dare you ignore me! I am a prince of Brittania! I order all of you-!" Clovis stopped talking when Lelouch pulled Villeta's firearm out of his pocket and aimed at Clovis' face. "Now now your highness," he said. "Losing your temper is unsightly for a prince of Brittania."

Clovis paled. "W-who the hell are you?" he said, utterly terrified. "I'll tell you, but first I need you to do something for me." Lelouch tossed Clovis a microphone he knew was connected to the PA system. "Call a ceasefire. Tell your men to fall back and treat the wounded. Japanese as well."

"Elevens? Why on Earth would you-"

The protest died in Clovis' throat as Lelouch cocked the pistol. He was unaccustomed to being ordered around instead of being the one giving the orders. Clovis began speaking into the microphone. "All forces ceasefire at once! I, Prince Clovis La Brittania command you to stop this violence at once. All Brittanian forces are ordered to withdraw and treat the wounded, whether they be Brittanians or Elevens!"

While he was a poor tactician, no one could deny that Clovis was a wonderful public speaker. His voice didn't hold a hint of fear as he followed Lelouch's instructions. It also seemed to restore some of Clovis' confidence as he spoke. "Now that that's taken care of, what will you have me do now? A little dance? Sing you a song? Or perhaps you would like to play a game of chess?" he joked.

Lelouch chuckled. Everything was working out just like last time. "Now that's an idea," Lelouch said as he began stepping closer to the throne into the light. "We used to play chess together quite often back at the Ares Villa. But I would always win our games. Do you remember...Brother?" he finished just as he completely stepped out of the darkness.

Clovis gasped in shock. "It's you?" he said as he rose from his thone. "Is it... Is it really you Lelouch?" he looked as if he was standing face to face with a ghost. "Yes brother, it's me. I've come back from the dead. Come back to change everything." Lelouch smiled even wider at the hidden meaning of his words.

Clovis just stood there for a moment, utterly awestruck. Then his face lit up in an expression of pure joy. "I'm so glad you're alive!" he said, taking a step towards Lelouch. "I always held out the hope that you and Nunally were alive. And now you're here! Oh please Lelouch, come back to the homeland with me!" He seemed genuinely happy to see his half brother again, and didn't seem to care that said half brother still had a gun trained on him. Lelouch grit his teeth and took a step back. 'Dammit Clovis,' he thought. 'It was hard enough having to kill you last time, stop making this harder than it has to be!'

"I'm afraid I can't do that, brother." Lelouch sighed. Clovis stopped apprachng Lelouch, confused. "For the sake of Japan, and the world, you have to die here." "What?" Clovis chuckled still smiling, peharps he thorught this all was some sort of big joke.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me."

Lelouch raised the pistol and fired a single shot. The shot pierced Clovis' heart, and he collapsed to the floor, dying almost instantly.

Without another word, Lelouch turned and left the command vehicle, pausing only once to geass a pair technicians to erase the security footage inside the command center. He went back outside and jumped in his knightmare and began the long ride out of the ghetto. Lelouch smiled as he began to plot. He didn't know how it had happend, but he had been given the chance most people could only dream about.

'A chance to do it all over again...' Lelouch wondered at the possibilities.

There had been so many questions, so many mistakes last time that had prevented him from fulfilling his plans last time. But now, he knew what was coming and how to prepare. He wouldn't mess up this time. This time he would change the world the way he had meant to at the beginning.

"This time," Lelouch said aloud "This time I'll do things right. I swear that this time... things WILL be different!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Preparation

Lelouch sped away from the ghetto as fast as he could. He needed to put as much distance between himself and Shinjuku as he possibly could before the military discovered Clovis' body. Once that happened, they would no doubt put the place into lock-down and mount a search for the culprit.

He knew that they wouldn't find anything, but the increased security would make it near impossible for him to move around undetected. As he neared the exit to the ghetto ditched Villetta's knightmare in a collapsed building on the side of the road and made the rest of the trip on foot. The quickest way back into the Tokyo Settlement from the ghetto was a single heavily guarded checkpoint.

Thankfully for Lelouch, most of the military forces stationed at the ghetto were either dead or desperately trying to reestablish a perimeter, which meant that the bare minimum of guards was on duty. Lelouch was already dressed in a military uniform he'd taken from a soldier in the ghetto, so he was able bluff his way close enough to the checkpoint to geass the duo of guards on duty to allow him to pass unhindered.

Once he was safely back in the settlement, he quickly changed back into his school uniform and pulled out his cell phone and called Rivalz for a ride. Classes had ended by the time they arrived at Ashford, so Lelouch headed straight up to his room. He knew that Sayoko had taken Nunnally out for a walk today so he had some time to himself. He sat down on his bed and began to plan. Tomorrow the military would announce Clovis' death and Jeremiah's Pureblood Faction would try to pin the murder on Suzaku.

While Lelouch certainly did not approve, he could see the strategy behind their decision to use Suzaku as a scapegoat. By claiming Clovis' assassin was not only an honorary Brittanian but also a knightmare pilot, it would give the Purists the perfect excuse to abolish the Honorary Brittanian System and take complete control of the Brittanian military. As for Suzaku himself, he would be extremely lucky if they let him live.

The best he could hope for was a life sentence in a Brittainian military prison where he would likely die anyway from abuse from the racist guards. Lelouch was determined to make sure that didn't happen. He would have to contact Kallen and Ohgi and start building the Black Knights again, which would be much easier this time because he wouldn't make the mistake of making himself look suspicious to Kallen.

Of course, there was also the issue of figuring out just how he'd been sent back in time in the first place. Lelouch didn't like having unknown factors in his plans. He had no idea if any other members of the Black Knights would end up getting memories of the original timeline or if he alone had this advantage. More importantly, Lelouch wanted to know if the mental time travel would end up happening again. Needless to say, the idea that every time Lelouch died he would end up going right back to the start was very, very disturbing to him. It might seem convenient at first, but he would eventually start to wonder why he should even bother trying to save he world at all if thing would just go back to the way things were as soon as he died.

Perhaps the time travel had something to do with geass? He would have to question C.C about that when she showed up later. But until then...

He pulled out his laptop and cell phone. He would think things over while he started putting his plans in motion for the Black Knights. He booked an appointment with talented Brittanian Tailor to make his Zero Costume, then scheduled a few chess matches to acquire a little extra funding. Geass was an excellent way to get people to offer their resources to him for free, but eventually people would wonder how he got all his equipment, or why so many nobles and businessmen couldn't remember where all their money had gone.

Not long after he finished setting up his plans, he heard the front door open.

"We're home!" Sayoko called from the door.

Lelouch immediately rose from his bed and headed towards the front door.

'Nunnally...'

There she was, just as Lelouch remembered her. Lelouch felt his emotions begin to overwhelm him as he approached his sibling. Her face had been the last thing he'd seen in his last life before the time travel. "Welcome home Nunnally..." was as far as he got before he grabbed his sister and pulled her into a bear hug.

"L-l-lelouch!" Nunnally gasped in surprise, then returned her embrace. 'What's going on?' she thought. 'Lelouch is rarely so emotional like this. Did something happen today? Is he hurt?'

Lelouch fought back the urge to shed tears. He'd become the enemy of everything his little sister stood for at the end of his last life, and had hated every second of it. But now he'd been given the chance to make sure that would never happen, to make the gentle world his little sister deserved.

As he sat there hugging his beloved little sister, he silently thanked whatever supernatural powers had given him this second chance.

"...Big brother..."

"Yes, Nunnally?"

"Y-you're crushing me..."

Lelouch gasped and let go of his little sister. He could see the worry evident on the faces of both Nunnally and Sayoko. "Is something wrong master?" the ninja-maid asked with concern.

Lelouch slid a mask of calm over his face with practiced ease. "Nothing to worry about Nunnally," Lelouch began calmly. "There was trouble today when I went gambling today."

"What do you mean?" Nunnally was very worried for her brother now. Rarely, if ever, did Lelouch show so much worry about anything. Whatever happened must have been serious to shake him so much.

"Sayoko and I ran into Rivalz on the way here," she said, "He told me that you had him pick you up in Shinjuku today. What happened?"

"A car crashed into a construction site as we were coming back from a chess match," he explained gently. "I got out to see if anyone was hurt, but they didn't realize I'd climbed on their van and they took off into the ghetto." Nunnally raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Lelouch must have noticed Nunnally's surprise because he quickly continued, "I'm alright Nunnally, it was only a misunderstanding. Once I got their attention they pulled over and I climbed out. I just walked until I reached the edge of the ghetto and then I called Rivalz. When i heard that the terrorists release poison gas in the Ghetto, I was relieved to have gotten out in time."

Nunnally frowned. She didn't completely buy Lelouch's story. Most people wouldn't notice it, but members of the royal family were exceptionally good at detecting deception from others. It was a quality gained as a byproduct of their upbringing in the Imperial Court, where deception and politics went hand in hand. She decided not to press the issue. Whatever happened was clearly making her brother uncomfortable and was hopefully over now.

"I'm glad you're okay." she said smiling, but her voice became more serious. "Shirley's right you know, if you keep gambling so much, you might get really hurt next time." As she spoke, Nunnally reached out to take her brother's hand. She didn't miss the way he shied away from her touch at first.

He chuckled nervously. "I guess you're right. I'll talk to Rivalz tommorow about cutting back for a while."

Then Lelouch and Nunnally had their first meal together after two long years. After putting Nunnally to bed, Lelouch went to his room and turned on the televison to check if the military released anything new about the Shinjuku ghetto.

"Yesterday tragedy was averted as the military prevented a a potential biohazard threat." the newscaster began. Lelouch leaned forward with interest.

"The military received word from anonymous sources that a band of eleven terrorists hiding in the Shinjuku ghetto were developing a deadly new form of poison gas. Their mission: to deploy their new bioweapon in the Tokyo settlement and kill as many innocent Brittanian citizens as they possibly could. Police and military launched a preemptive strike on the ghetto in order to capture the terrorists before they could enact their sinister plot."

A clip of shaky camera footage played of a squad of Sutherlands advancing down a street in the ghetto.

"Military encountered minimal resistance from the terrorists, until they activated their new weapon in an attempt to escape, showing absolutely no concern about the effect it would have on their own people." Another clip of amateur footage began playing, showing a droves of Japanese people running down the street away from what appeared to be a cloud of green gas before cutting off abruptly.

Lelouch scoffed at that. He knew there had been no poison gas attack. Familiar with the work of Diethard Reed, Lelouch could tell the 'poison gas' was nothing more than footage of a cloud of dust from a destroyed building edited with visual effects to appear green. If the clip had been allowed to play a moment longer, everyone would have seen a knightmare emerge from the cloud and begin firing on the fleeing crowd.

"Massive eleven causualties have been reported, and many Brittanian soldiers are still unnacounted for. Nonetheless, Area Eleven may rest easy knowing that their sacrifices tharted a potential disaster. In other news, Pizza Hut has announced plans to..."

Lelouch didn't bother listening to the rest. Lelouch lied down in his bed and had the most peaceful sleep he'd had in a long time.

* * *

The morning of the next day passed by rather uneventfully. Lelouch didn't approach Kallen and as a result she never suspected him having any involvement in the Shinjuku battle. To her, he was just another Brittanian pretty-boy living large off the suffering of her people. That would make it all the more surprising when he eventually revealed his identity to her and the rest of the Black Knights.

When it was time for he and Rivalz to go gambling, Lelouch convinced his friend to first stop at the tailor's to pick up the Zero costume.

Usually it would have taken a great deal of time for such a elaborate outfit to be made from scratch, especially when being made from such a popular tailor who had many other clients. However, the offer of a very large bribe made the man more than happy to devote his full attention to crafting the costume.

"Let me do the talking, alright?" he told Rivalz as they entered the shop. They went straight to the counter and Lelouch handed the man his ticket. "I'm here to pick up my order." he told the elderly tailor.

"Mr. 'L.L' I presume." He asked after a moment of silence. Lelouch nodded. "Very well then. Here you are."

The man pulled a black briefcase out from under the counter and set it down in front of Lelouch. Lelouch eagerly flipped it open and laid eyes on his new and improved Zero costume for the first time.

The actual outfit was unchanged, but the mask had undergone some major modifications. While externally it was near identical to the original design, the inside was now outfitted with an improved voice modifier that would make it impossible to recognize the wearer's actual voice as well as amplify it so it could be heard farther away. Also built into the mask was a communicator that would allow Lelouch to deliver orders to his men outside of a Knightmare if he needed to.

He grinned evilly as he pulled out the mask and held it in front of him, the identity he would use to change the world…

Rivalz looked around uncomfortably. Lelouch's psycho grin was giving him the creeps. He nudged Lelouch in the shoulder with his elbow.

"Hey, pal… What's going on here?"

"hmm?"

Lelouch blinked and shook his head, snapping out of his daze. He put on a reassuring smile.

"It's nothing Rivalz, I just thought we could use a couple disguises if we're going to keep going out to gamble. It won't end well if someone we play against is a sore loser and comes looking for a little payback."

Rivals chuckled sheepishly. He'd never thought of that before. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." He looked back at the briefcase in confusion. "But why did you only get one then? I want a flashy costume too if we're going-"

_"Obey my orders."_ Lelouch said suddenly in an imperious voice.

_"Yes, your Majesty!"_ Two voices answered in unison.

Rivalz was standing at attention beside the tailor, the red glow of geass evident in both of their eyes. He sighed. "Sorry Rivalz."

Lelouch didn't like having to use his power on his friends, but Rivalz was the only way Lelouch could get off campus without drawing any suspicion to himself. He couldn't afford to have someone asking questions or looking into where exactly he went after school, even if that someone was one of his best friends.

After taking a moment to regain his focus, he turned to the tailor and said, _"Give me the costume for free and destroy any records you have of it's making. Then continue on normally until I contact you again, I may have some use for you in the future."_

_"Yes milord."_ The tailor answered reverently while bowing his head. Then Lelouch turned to Rivalz.

_"Forget and ignore any suspicious or unusual behavior during our outings. Otherwise continue on as normal."_

_"No problem pal!"_ Rivals answered with a grin and a thumb up. Lelouch smirked at this. Even under the power of geass, Rivalz was his usual goofball self.

The rest of the afternoon passed by uneventful. Rivalz forgot ever going into the shop once they got back outside and they proceeded on to the chess match that Lelouch had scheduled for that afternoon. Lelouch briefly considered using his geass on his opponent to get him to lose the game on purpose but decided against it. Overusing his geass might cause him to develop geass runaway earlier on, and he didn't want to have to deal with that unknown factor until he had a way of counteracting it.

After totally destroying his opponent, Lelouch and Rivalz made a few extra short stops around the settlement in preparation for Zero's debut. By the time they actually returned to Ashford Academy, the sun had already gone down.

"How the heck did it take us this long to get back!? I've gone that way hundreds of times and it's never taken that long before!" Rivalz exclaimed.

Lelouch just chuckled to himself and started making his way to his room. The lights were already out when he arrived and Sayoko was in the dining room cleaning the table. She looked up and smiled as Lelouch walked in.

"Welcome home master. I'm afraid you missed dinner tonight and Mistress Nunnally has already gone to bed. I could warm a plate for you if you'd like."

"No thank you Sayoko. I'm just tired right now. I'm just going to head to bed now."

After wishing Sayoko goodnight, Lelouch silently went to his room sat down on the bed. He regretted not spending dinner with Nunnally, especially after that akwardness last night. He would have to make it up to her after he finished his work on Zero's debut. Lelouch didn't bother turning on the television to check if Suzaku had been arrested. He had a long day and needed his rest for his meeting with the Black Knights tomorrow.

Besides, with his knowledge of the future, Jeremiah wouldn't stand a chance.

* * *

Jeremiah Gottwald was having one of the wost days of his military career.

It had all started when Prince Clovis ordered the purge of the purge of the Shinjuku ghetto. At first the operation had gone normally, with the royal guard easily exterminating the majority of the eleven population with little resistance. Then, inexplicably, the elevens started to turn the tide of battle.

Unfortunately, Jeremiah had been one of the first to discover they weren't dealing with run-of-the mill terrorists when an enemy piloting a Sutherland ambushed his squad and forced him to eject. He'd been lucky to make it out of that encounter, the gaping wound in his left leg was evidence of that fact.

One of the shots the terrorist fired at him pierced the armor of his cockpit and hit him in the leg. He high caliber shot didn't score a direct hit, or the lower half of his leg would've been torn off, but it still took a good chunk out of his leg. Even with the grievous injury, he still managed to eject from his knightmare, then limp all the way through the ghetto to the checkpoint, bleeding out all the way. Brought down by a filthy eleven. How embarrassing!

He fell unconscious due to the blood loss a short while later and spent the next day in a coma. The doctors were surprised he even survived the walk back, considering the amount of blood he'd lost. He'd only regained consciousness a short while before Villetta and Kewell, his two highest ranking subordinates, came to see him and gave him even worse news. Jeremiah listened in silence as his two subordinates brought him up to speed.

Apparently, the train that he'd stopped while pursuing the Glasgow had been carrying a shipment of Sutherlands fresh from the factory. After the terrorists looted it and hijacked the sutherlands inside, they actually managed to defeat the prince's remaining royal guards, break into the command center, kill the prince, and escape before anyone could see them.

While he appeared calm on the outside, he was seething inside. Another member of the royal family he'd sworn to protect had been killed on his watch. When his beloved Lady Marianne died at the hands of assassins, Jeremiah had been fortunate enough to gain the favor of Prince Clovis. Both he and Clovis had respected the late empress greatly, even though she was not of noble blood. When the Prince extended an offer to join his royal guard and serve him in Area Eleven, he'd accepted without hesitation.

And now he'd been assassinated as well. While the Prince had not been Marianne, Jeremiah had still sworn his loyalty to Clovis and his death was another blow to his honor and pride.

'I swear, I'll find whoever assassinated his highness and execute them myself...' he thought.

After a few moments of tense silence Villetta began speaking again. "Lord Jeremiah, this is an opportunity that we cannot ignore. While his highness' death is unfortunate, it leaves the position of Viceroy open. This is the perfect chance for us Purebloods to take control." Beside her, Kewell nodded in agreement.

Jeremiah grunted with effort as sat up in the hospital bed. "Indeed. We must take advantage of the situation while we still can. But don't forget we have to woo over the other nobles first."

Yes, if the Purists were to take power in area Elven, it would only end in disaster without the support of the other nobles. Bartley and the other remaining members of the Late Prince Clovis's entourage would no doubt try and oppose them and the infighting would topple their regime before any meaningful changes could be made.

And speaking about Bartley... "What's going on with General Bartley? What was he doing when his highness was killed?"

Kewell was the one to speak this time. "General Bartley and his officers were wandering in the ghetto at the time of his highness' death. He claims to have no memory of what he was doing there or anything involving Prince Clovis' death."

"Say what?"

Kewell smirked. "Coincidentally, the general is also heading the investigation into The prince's murder. The same investigation that has failed to yield any results since it began."

Jeremiah frowned. He understood perfectly what Kewell was implying. Bartley might somehow be involved in the murder, and using his position to cover up his involvement. If he succeeded, not only would Jeremiah and his subordinates be denied a chance to rise in power, but the bastards that killed the prince might get away as well. There was no way Jeremiah was going to let that happen.

Bartley needed to be taken out of the picture. The fact he'd left the prince alone and vulnerable could be used to Jeremiah's advantage. Coupled with the general's suspiciously specific 'memory loss', it was more than enough to imply to the nobility he played a part in the murder, or was at least a total incompetent. And even if he wasn't involved as he claimed, this disgrace would rob him of the support he would need to rally the nobles and stop the takeover. Perfect. Just one more obstacle out of the way on the Pureblood's path to power.

"We need to act fast. Kewell, find Bartley and arrest him for his failure. I don't know if he played a hand in his higness' death, but he still failed to protect him."

Kewell nodded and left the room. Once he was gone, Villetta turned to her superior officer. "Lord Jeremiah, even with Bartley taken care of, we still have to worry about Prince Clovis' assassin. Prince Clovis has been dead for a day, we can't conceal the fact he's dead much longer. If we report to the media that we don't kn-"

Jeremiah silenced her by raising a finger to her lips. "Leave that to me." he smirked confidently, a plan forming in his eyes. "Get me the records of all honorary brittanians that were in the field during the Shinjuku incident. If the press wants a terrorist, we'll give them one."

* * *

It was noon the next day when the breaking news announcement was made that Prince Clovis had been found dead. Lelouch and the rest of the student council immediately gathered around the television.

"The announcement was made just minutes ago that Viceroy Prine Clovis has been found dead. It's been confirmed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the heart, which killed the Viceroy near instantaneously..."

"No way! Is he serious?" exclaimed Shirley.

"That means that the prince was..." Muttered Nina, trembling slightly.

Lelouch sighed. 'About time,' he thought. He'd bee worried when he awoke that morning and learned the announcement hadn't been made yesterday. What could Jeremiah be up to?

"We take you now to the live press release being held at the Viceroy's Palace by Lord Kewell Soresi."

Lelouch gasped in shock at what he saw. Jeremiah was nowhere to be seen! Instead, an orange haired pureblood, Kewell, if he remembered correctly, was standing at the podium flanked on both sides by the rest of the Pureblood faction. He was in the middle of delivering a speach near identical to the one spoken by Jereimiah in the original timeline. Jeremiah must have prepared it in advance.

"Prince Clovis is dead. Our beloved Viceroy fought for justice against all the elevens and was killed by them for it! He died a martyr! I give you my word his death will not be in vain, we will not rest until the elevens responsible for his death answer for their crimes!"

The screen cut back to the newsman. "Until a new Viceroy can be selected, Lord Jeremiah Gottwald, the leader of the Purist faction will take over as acting consul. He will take office upon his recovery from injuries sustained during the terrorist attack on the Shinjuku ghetto. Until then, Lord Kewell will be directing..."

Lelouch had heard enough. He stormed out of the room, ignoring his freinds as they called after him. 'Jeremiah's been injured? What did I do to cause this to happen!?'

This was bad, things were already beginning to move out of his ability to predict. If events diverged much further, he wouldn't be able to predict the actions his enemies would take. What did he do that could've caused this? He didn't think he'd made any changes large enough to cause something as different as this already.

He needed to act fast. Kewell was a wild card, an unknown factor. He'd only dealt with the man briefly when he tried to stop him from rescuing Suzaku. If he was taking over for Jeremiah, he was the biggest potential threat to Lelouch's plans at the moment.

He started thinking and planning his next move.

'Jeremiah must not be in too poor condition, or the Purists wouldn't even consider allowing him to become acting consul while wounded.' He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing Kallen's number. 'If he's in good enough health that he'll be able to act as acting consul soon, he's probably in good enough condition now to give orders. Jeremiah might be using Kewell as a figurehead until he's able to lead directly. And if Jeremiah's still giving the orders, he'll still try and use Suzaku as a scapegoat.'

Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief, partially because he was relieved that he could still salvage the situation and because Jeremiah wasn't too badly injured. Racism aside, Lelouch knew Jeremiah was at heart a decent man and a loyal subordinate. Hopefully he could confront him and bring him over to his side before he was forced to fight him or ruin his career like last time.

But now, preparations needed to be made. He had to begin gathering his forces now in case Kewell tried to pull something even more unexpected. Lelouch looked out his window and saw Kallen in the courtyard. 'Perfect,' he thought as he dialed the number. Kallen pulled out her phone and excused herself from her circle of 'friends'.

"Hello?" she said softly in her schoolgirl voice.

"It's good to hear from you again, Q-1."

A priceless look of surprise washed over her features when she heard Lelouch's voice.

"It's you!" she gasped. "How'd you get my number? Who are you?" she asked in her regular voice.

"All in due time, Q-1. Meet me in six hours at Tokyo tower, bring the others as well if you can."

"But-!"

Lelouch hung up. He smirked as he watched Kallen run off, dialing another number as she ran. He left the room he was hiding in and made his way toawrds his room. He glanced at the televison in one of the rooms he passed. Another breaking news claimed that the Purists have apprehended a suspect. Just as he predicted, Suzaku's mugshot flashed on the screen. Regardless of recent complications, the rescue would continue as planned.

'Don't worry Suzaku,' Lelouch thought. Arrived at his room and pulled the briefcase containing his costume out from under the bed.

'Zero's on his way. If Jeremiah wants a terrorist, I'll give him one!'

* * *

AN: And there's chapter two. Apologies for it being a tad shorter than the first chapter, just getting the necessary preparations for the action next chapter out of the way. Lets just say that Zero's recuse will go much differently than the last time...

"_Marcus Finch commands you. Review!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Black Knight

Lelouch sighed as he sat back in his seat on the the train. As soon as he'd finished his phone call with Kallen, he'd immediately gone to work making the final arrangements for the rescue. He was absolutely astounded by just how quickly events were beginning to diverge from the "original" timeline. He had been planning on not making any other changes until he had a solid power-base with the black knights, but now it appeared that it might be too late as the changes were already happening on their own.

The Purist who was now in charge of Suzaku's trial was one such example. Lord Kewell Soresi. From what information he could find about the man, it appeared he was a near opposite to Jeremiah in terms of personality. He was impulsive and rash, seemed to carry himself with far more arrogance and was absolutely convinced of his and his country's superiority over the numbers. It was no wonder that a Britannian like him ended up joining Jeremiah's Purist faction. Lelouch was just relieved that Kewell seemed to still be taking orders from Jeremiah, and therefore was still going have a televised procession to the trial.

Had Kewell and Jeremiah decided to change anything else in the handling of the trial, chances were it would've been near impossible to rescue Suzaku and escape unharmed. Kewell seemed to be a 'shoot first, ask questions later' sort of person. If left up to him, Lelouch would probably be full of bullet holes before he could begin to argue for Suzaku's release. He'd made some special arrangements in case something went wrong, but expected the rest of the rescue to go according to his plans.

Now was the time to contact his soon-to-be allies. If all went well, this rescue would cement Kallen and Ohgi's faith in him, and would allow him to start asserting himself as the leader of the Black Knights.

He puled out his cell phone and dialed the phone he sent Kallen.

"What now?" she asked.

"Face forward and look to your right. What do you see?"

"The Brittanian city. A city of bigots and criminals, fattening themselves on the land countless Japanese fought and died for."

"And on your left?"

"I see _our_ city. The dessicated remains of our nation, left to rot once Britannia sucked us dry."

"...Good answers. Now make your way to the front of the train. It's time we meet, face to face."

Lelouch hanged up the phone and walked to the front of the train car.

A few moments later he heard the door behind him hiss open as Kallen and the other members of resistance step inside.

"So was it you? Are you the voice from Shinjuku?" Ohgi asked as he entered.

Lelouch spun around just as the train entered the tunnel, startling the resistance members as the car was plunged into darkness.

"Greetings, comrades. I am Zero." He introduced himself as he gave a small bow. "Did you enjoy my little tour of the settlement?"

"Your tour?"

"Yes. I wanted to help you fully grasp the difference between the two. The settlement," he extended his left arm. "And the Ghetto." he extended his right arm.

The first time he had this meeting, the rebels had seemed more annoyed than anything by his theatrics, but now they were silent, paying attention to his every word. Had he really made that much of an impression already?

Ohgi stepped forward. "Yeah, we understand. There's a big difference between us and them. And that's why we fight to resist them-"

"You are wrong if you believe terrorism will succeed in defeating Brittania." Lelouch stated flatly.

"D-defeat?" Ohgi said confusedly.

"Yes." he replied. "For you see, your enemy is not the citizens of the Tokyo settlement. Rather, it is the corrupt empire of Britannia itself. Attacking the innocent shall only turn them against you, and urge your opponent to intensify their efforts to finish you off. You must take up arms against against the corruption of Britannia, and fight for Justice!"

Kallen scowled, not looking convinced. "That's real tough talk coming from a guy who wears a mask! If you're so confident, show us who you are!"

Ohgi stepped forward. "I agree. You did us a huge favor back in Shinjuku, we've never been able to fight the Britannians on open ground before, and for that we're grateful. But we need to know if we can trust you now. Will you show us your face?"

"I'm afraid I cannot." Lelouch replied with fake regret. "I have many enemies in both Japan and Britannia who would seek to do us both harm should they learn who I really was. For both your safety and my own, I cannot show you my face." he continued before Ohgi could protest."However, I will show you that you can trust me. Instead of my face, let me show you a demonstration of my power. If I make the impossible possible, I might just earn your trust."

Kallen and the others glanced uncertainly at each other, considering his words. Lelouch decided to use their hesitation to his advantage.

"Tomorrow night, Suzaku Kururugi will be taken to court martial." he continued. "He is charged with the murder of the late Prince Clovis, the man responsible for the massacre in the Ghetto two days ago. But his trial is a sham! _I_ am the man who killed Clovis!"

Kallen and the others gasped in shock. This was one of the last things they'd expected the masked man to say in his attempt to convince them. If he was telling the truth, with a man like him on their side might make their dream of a free Japan possible.

"The 'trial' is nothing more than a setup to further the Purist Faction's plans. If Kururugi arrives at the trial he _will_ be found guilty, and every single honorary Britannian will be thrown back into the ghettos. I have a plan to free Kururugi, but I'll need your help to do it. If something goes wrong or if you're still not convinced when it's all over, then feel free to walk away. It will be a difficult struggle, but I'll wish you the best of luck in vanquishing your oppressors."

There was a moment of silence as the members of the group glanced at each other. Lelouch grinned under his mask. He knew in that moment that he had them.

Ohgi stepped forward. "...What did you have in mind, Zero?"

* * *

The next day...

Lelouch sat in school staring out the window, thinking about the events to come. Tonight was the night. Tonight he would reveal himself to the whole world and officially begin his fight against Britannia. Kallen's desk was empty today, meaning she was with Ohgi and the others getting things ready for tonight. Last time, he had just barely managed to convince Kallen and Ohgi to give him a chance. But this time, more resistance members had been willing to help him with his plan. His "victory" in the ghetto must have made quite an impression on them, especially since they managed to escape with and keep many of the Sutherlands they'd hijacked.

He continued musing on coming and past events until classes ended for the day and he headed back down the hall. It really looked like things were going to go right this time. With his future knowledge he'd already won over the resistance without much effort and would hopefully leave a better impression on Suzaku tonight. For the first in a long time, he began to believe he could really build that gentler world that he'd set out to create so long ago. But this time, he would do it the right way. He would win while preventing those he cared about from dying. The deaths of both his allies...

"Hey, Lulu!"

...and his loved ones.

Lelouch stopped in his tracks as an orange haired girl ran up to him. Shirley Fenette, the girl that had always held a massive crush on him. In his last life, Lelouch had inadvertently ruined Shirley's life during his battle with Britannia. Her death had been one of the last straws that sent him over the deep end in his attempts to change the world. The loss of his second closest friend had placed him on the path that had led to the Zero Requiem and his death.

'But not this time.' he silently resolved. He wouldn't lose her or Nunnally or anyone else again. He would protect all of them this time, and nobody, not the Emperor or Mao or V.V or Rolo would take them away.

"Hey Shirley, what's up?" Lelouch replied after donning a calm mask. "Is this about gambling again? I already told Rivalz I was cutting back for now."

Shirley shook her head. "No, not that! There's some weird girl looking for you!" she said as she pointed out the window.

'Weird Girl?' he wondered as he looked out the window. He gasped as he saw what Shirley was pointing at.

C.C was right there. In the courtyard. Looking right at him. She was dressed in an Ashford academy uniform. An Ashford academy _boys_ uniform, and had caught the attention of nearly every student on the grounds. C.C noticed that she'd gotten his attention, and began waving up at him.

"Troublesome witch..." he muttered.

He jumped up and bolted down the stairs. "ExcusemesorryIllberightback!" he shouted quickly over his shoulder as he ran for the courtyard. He reach the courtyard a few moments later and grabbed C.C by the hand.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed as he puller her back towards the clubhouse. 'So much for keeping her existence secret...'

Just his luck, he was met by the entire student government as they entered the building. "What happened Lelouch? I've never seen you bolt that fast before." Rivalz said.

'I really don't want to use my geass on them... Just keep calm, and roll with it for now...' he thought.

"Everyone, this is C.C. She's an...old friend of mine." He nudged C.C with his elbow subtly trying to get her to play along. "She's visiting Japan for the first time, and is going to be living with me for awhile."

They seemed to accept this excuse, albeit with some suspicion. They all introduced themselves to C.C, she just stared off into the distance, having already lost interest in the whole situation.

"So C.C, where do you know Lulu from?" Shirley asked after the introductions.

"He made a promise about our future together." C.C said flatly before Lelouch could respond.

"Whaaa!?" Shirley blurted out. Her face was turning beet red, and her mouth was hanging open. The other members of the student council looked to be in varying states of confusion themselves.

Lelouch forced a chuckle. "She's really tired from traveling such a long way, she doesn't know what she's saying. I'll show her around the clubhouse!"

Lelouch grabbed C.C and pulled her up the stairs. Lelouch continued pulling C.C along until they finally reached his apartment. Thankfully, Nunnally and Sayoko were out again today, giving Lelouch the privacy he needed to talk to his witch. He left C.C in the hall for the moment and went to the kitchen. He returned a minute later with two bottles of cola and a microwave pizza.

"I must admit, you've showed up earlier than I expected." he said as he set the microwave pizza on the table. "If I'd know you were coming, I would've ordered a fresh one for you."

There was a moment of silence, and a flash of surprise appeared and faded from C.C's face so quickly Lelouch could've believed he imagined it.

"...I must admit, this isn't the reaction I was expecting." she said with a hint of amusement. "A girl who you watched die shows up at your doorstep and you act like it's perfectly normal."

Lelouch sighed. "So you don't remember. I was afraid of that."

C.C blinked. "Remember what?"

This confirmed it. Whatever force had sent him back in time, it had sent him back alone. He'd hoped that he'd at least be able to confide in C.C, but she too appeared to have absolutely no memory of the previous timeline. Just like when she'd had amnesia, the girl that Lelouch knew simply didn't exist yet, and now that events were changing, she might never exist at all.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." he said.

C.C rolled her eyes. "I've seen many unbelievable things in my lifetime. I doubt whatever you're hiding is going to surprise me."

Lelouch shrugged. If she was going to keep prying, might as well just come out with it. "I'm a Time Traveler."

There was a moment of silence, then C.C raised her eyebrow. "Oh, really? Actually, I do find that very hard to believe."

"Says the immortal witch to the banished prince with mind control powers." He said with a smirk. There was something satisfying about one-upping C.C in a conversation.

"...Point. Where, or when, are you from then?"

"One year in the future." He replied. "Before you ask, I know everything. All about The Emperor's true plans, the Geass Directorate, and the Sword of Akasha."

"Really now?" C.C said, she seemed genuinely interested in the conversation now. While they ate the pizza, Lelouch explained all the important details and events of the future. The Black Rebellion, spending a year under the Emperor's geass, the destruction of the Sword of Akasha, the Betrayal of the Black Knights, and finally the Zero Requiem.

He left out a few details, like Mao's "rescue attempt" though. He wasn't sure how C.C would react to the news her obsessed former contractor was actively hunting her down. This wasn't the C.C he'd known in the future, the who had gotten to know him and started to open up to him. All those memories were gone, unlikely to ever happen the same way again. While he considered her to be precious, he was still more or less a total stranger to her at this point.

"So, you're the reliving the year over again."C.C said after finishing the last bite of pizza.

"Yes. Do you have any idea what caused this? Could someone affect time with a geass?"

"Not exactly." C.C explained. "In my experience, the powers bestowed to a person in an contract have always been restricted to some form of mental power. The closest a geass power could get to time manipulation would be altering a person's perception of time, like that Rolo boy you mentioned. And even then, it wouldn't truly be affecting time, just how people perceived it."

Lelouch scowled. There went his only lead in discovering how he'd been sent back. He sat there thinking for a few minutes before C.C broke the silence.

" Anyway, you acted surprised when I got here. Did I do something different then 'last time'?"

Lelouch crossed his arms. "Last time you just came to my room in the middle of the night, now walk right into school in front of everyone. Why did you choose to show dressed up like that anyway? You know that V.V would like nothing more than to get his hands on you. If you go walking around Ashford-"

"I'm well aware of the risks." C.C cut him off. "I've been avoiding Charles and V.V for a very long time. I know their tricks and how to stay hidden. Besides, all of the soldiers deployed in Japan who know about me were demoted or arrested when General Bartley was disgraced."

"But you still didn't answer my question. Why did you show up dressed like..._that_?" He said, gesturing to the boys uniform C.C was still wearing.

"...I was bored," she smirked. "...and it seemed like an amusing way to get your attention."

_Troublesome witch_...

With that, Lelouch said goodbye to C.C and retrieved the briefcase with his Zero costume from under the bed and hurried out the door. He went down the corridor and turned the corner, only to run directly into a familiar face.

"Milly?"

The blonde class president was waiting for him, leading against the wall, smirking with her arms folded over her sizable chest.

"I wanted to check up on you after this afternoon." She explained, smirking mischievously. "I've never seen you run that fast before. If you always ran as fast, you would be amazing in gym."

Lelouch chuckled uneasily at the ribbing.

Then her expression grew more serious, more concerned. "But seriously, I'm worried about you, and so are Nunnally and the others. What's going on, Lelouch? Who's that girl, and why is she talking about a future together with you?"

Lelouch sighed. He'd known this was coming. Milly and her family had always been looking out for him and Nunnally. It had been the Ashfords who had given them the comfortable and relatively normal life they enjoyed at the Academy. Milly had become something of a big sister to him since then, playfully teasing him but also being there to help him when he needed her.

"I'm not lying when I say that C.C's an old friend." Lelouch explained. "She's had some trouble and some people looking for her and she needs a place to stay until things blow over."

This did little to alleviate Milly's concern.

"Lelouch..." Milly began.

Lelouch put up his hands. "It's okay. I... we... can trust C.C." He paused and glanced around to make sure no-one else was listening. "She knows who Nunnally and I really are." he whispered.

Milly's eyes widened. "You told her you're a a prince?" she asked.

"She already knew. She's an old friend of our family, but I don't think Nunnally has ever met her."

"She's nobility?" Milly wondered aloud.

"Not really, it's a long story. Look, she just needs a place to stay until things cool down. She's got literally nowhere else to go or she wouldn't be here." Lelouch tried to explain. If Milly tried to object, he would have no choice but to geass her. He didn't want to use his power on someone he thought of as family, but with C.C at stake, he might not have a choice.

Thankfully, he wouldn't have to use his power. Milly sighed. "Alright, Lulu, you win. But I'm going to to keeping an eye on you two."

Lelouch sighed with relief. "That's fair. Thanks Milly, you're the best."

Milly's playful expression returned. "I know." And with that, she turned and headed back down the hall.

With the situation defused for now, Lelouch left the clubhouse to meet up with Kallen and the others.

'Showtime...'

* * *

Jeremiah wore a triumphant smirk as he went over the files for Suzaku Kuururugi. When he was looking for a scapegoat, never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined finding the son of the last prime minister of Area Eleven. This worked out perfectly for his plans. Now he not only had a scapegoat he could sacrifice to further the Pureblood cause, but also a symbol whose execution could dishearten and demoralize the eleven populace. Once he crushed the elevens' spirit, he could completely focus his efforts on finding the prince's real assassin.

Already several of his subordinates were starting a secret investigation into the Viceroy's death. Of course the capture and execution of the assassin when he was found would be off record, but Prince Clovis would be avenged.

And even if he couldn't find the exact eleven that pulled the trigger on the prince, he could still take his revenge on all of the Elevens. Clovis had been far too easy on the Elevens. The Prince had sought to placate the numbers by establishing programs like the Honorary Britannian system. He'd naively thought that appeasing them would keep them in check, prevent them from gaining the desire to rise against him. But in the end his display of weakness had only gotten him killed.

'The weak are ruled by the strong.' The founding principle of Britannia. The only way control the numbers was through force, crushing their spirit so that they could never rise up against their betters. And Jeremiah intended to do just that. He'd make sure those uppity elevens remembered their place when he executed their hero on live television.

As an added bonus, the public humiliation and execution of Kuururgi would not only crush the elevens, but would surely also gain him favor with the new Viceroy as well. He'd received work a few hours ago that Princess Cornelia Li Britannia had been chosen as the Viceroy. He wondered if she would recognize him at all. She had been the head of her majesty Queen Marianne's royal guard at the Ares Villa when Jeremiah had been stationed here. What better way to gain the favor of the Princess than to present her with the man who killed her beloved half-brother? Indeed, everything was going according to plan.

Jeremiah was snapped out of his musings on the current situation by the sound of confused chatter on the radio.

"Lord Jeremiah, checkpoint three has intercepted a suspicious vehicle." It sounds like the elevens were going to pull something after all.

"Oh, really? Can you describe the vehicle?"

"Sir... It looks like Prince Clovis' car!"

"What?!"

Jeremiah was surprised. How did the elevens ever get their hands on something as valuable as a Viceroy's personal limousine? No matter, it wasn't important he supposed. This was yet another perfect opportunity to embarrass the Elevens in the eyes of the public. He ordered the checkpoint to let the vehicle through and radioed ahead to let Kewell know what was happening. He could imagine how it would play out already, a group of stupid elevens who wanted to make some sort of statement would be humiliated and arrested on live television instead.

Soon, the Viceroy's car drove into view of the cameras, coming to a stop in front of Kewell's knightmare.

"How dare you desecrate the his majesty's transport?! Come out of there at once!" Kewell made sure to shout loud enough so that the cameras could hear him.

Immediately, the base of the Brittanian flag on the back of the car caught fire. In mere seconds, the entire thing burned away, revealing a masked man standing behind it. He was dressed in a purple suit with a gold trim wrapped in a pitch black cape that ran down to his legs with a red interior. His face was covered by a odd black mask with a mirrored faceplate and a strange golden sigil beneath it.

"I am... Zero!"He shouted. A murmur went through the crowd at the masked figure's distorted voice.

"Zero?" Jeremiah repeated out loud.

"Enough of this little game! Your little show ends now!" Kewell shouted, firing a single shot into the air.

At Kewell's signal, the two knightmare transports dropped down additional Sutherlands to join the pair already flanking the convoy, who all raised their rifles in unison at the masked man. It was a move that was designed to intimidate a target into complying. Zero didn't even flinch.

Kewel still smirked confidently. "Alright, now come down from there, and lose the mask!" He shouted, leveling his sidearm, a small pistol, at Zero's face.

Zero reached up to his mask as if to remove it, but suddenly reached into the air and snapped his fingers. On cue, the back of the car collapsed outward to reveal...

"The poison gas container!" Jeremiah gasped in horror.

Kewell seemed to recognize the device as well from his his expression. "Someone! Shoot him!" he shouted, cocking his own pistol.

"Don't shoot!" Jeremiah shouted into the microphone. 'If he misses that bastard, then then the whole neighborhood will be flooded with nerve gas!'

Zero seemed to know this as well, and Jeremiah could've sworn that the driver actually edged the car closer to Kewell's knightmare.

"Do you intend to shoot me, Lord Kewell?" Jeremiah could hear the smugness behind that distorted voice. "I'll have you know I'm wearing a dead man's switch," Zero raised his arm to reveal the detonator clenched his left hand. "If I let go of this trigger, or if you hit the capsule behind me, then the blood of all these innocent Brittanian citizens will be on your hands."

Jeremiah cursed. 'He's taken all those Brittanian citizens hostage, and he's done it without them even realizing it!'

The crowd was becoming nervous. The people in the crowd whispered to each other and shuffled their feet anxiously, sensing the impending danger.

'Loosing Kururugi would be an embarrassment!' Jeremiah thought. 'But if Zero isn't bluffing... all those innocent casualties would be PR suicide!'

Such a large amount of casualties would be a complete disaster for the Purist Faction. They would never be able to live down such a disgrace. When Princess Cornelia arrived, instead of being rewarded for their service, they would be shamed and humiliated, having to answer for countless innocent casualties.

"What do you want, Zero?" Kewell said through grit teeth, lowering his pistol.

"A simple trade. This device... for Private Kuururugi." Zero responded.

"You're mad!"

"In exchange for the freedom of a single Japanese, you will be saving countless innocent Brittanian lives. I consider that to be a bargain."

"Never! This _eleven_..." Kewell spat like the word left a bad taste in his mouth. "Is responsible for the murder of His Majesty Prince Clovis! I'll never hand him over!"

"You're wrong, Kewell!" Zero retorted. "Suzaku Kuururugi is no murderer! The truth is that you couldn't find the real murderer, so now you're planning to condemn an innocent man as a scapegoat. But if you want the true culprit, then you need not look further..."

Jeremiah's eyes widened. 'That means-!'

"That's right!" Zero shouted, as he turned and looked directly into the camera. "The man who killed Clovis... was **ME**!"

There was an uproar from the crowd. Some gasped in horror, others started shouting and began angrily and cursing at Zero. Jeremiah himself sat in stunned silence, before smirking. If Zero truly was the prince's assassin, then he'd signed his own death warrant. He knew Kewell would never let Zero escape, especially now that he'd confessed to the murder. His only regret was that he wouldn't be the one to pull the trigger on Zero himself.

"You've insulted Britannia and the memory of our Late Prince Clovis! If what you claim is true, I'll take Clovis' vengeance here and now!" Kewell shouted as he once again raisied his gun at Zero and along with his knightmare escorts.

"Careful, Lord Kewell..." Zero said warningly. "You don't want the public to learn of _Project Orange _do you?"

"What?!" Kewell said confusedly.

"If I die here, everything you covered up will go public. Unless you want that to happen... _Hand over Suzaku Kuururugi, and do everything you can to help us escape_."

_"...Fine. You there! Release the prisoner!"_

A collective gasp came from the crowd, mirrored by Jeremiah.

"What are you doing Kewell?!" Villeta shouted. "Lord Jeremiah-!"

"_Forget Jeremiah_!" Kewell shouted back angrily as he tore the earpiece out of his ear and threw it away. _"He doesn't matter now! All I need to do is make sure Kuururugi and Zero get away!"_

Kewell began screaming at the soldiers on the prisoner transport to free Kuururugi. He looked and sounded like he was near homicidal assault if he didn't get his way. Eventually they relented and Kururugi was released and made his way towards the masked man. Zero met him halfway and leaned forward. It looked like he was whispering something to him, but the cameras were too far away to make anything out from the angry roars of the crowd. Jeremiah grabbed the radio and changed the frequency to Villetta's frame.

"Villetta, Kewell's lost his damn mind! Don't let Zero get away! If that bastard escapes, then we're good as dea-"

"Well then, until next time." Zero said ominously, and let go of the detonator.

And then everything went to hell.

* * *

"Well then, until next time." Lelouch said as he let go of the trigger.

The capsule on the back of Clovis' car roared to life, shaking and sputtering and spewing a dark green cloud of gas everywhere. The crowd panicked, screaming and coughing as they fought and trampled each other in their desperate struggle to get away. Lelouch immediately grabbed onto Suzaku and ran towards the railing, Kallen following close behind. Some of the soldiers started to chase after them, but didn't get very far before they were blocked by the feeling crowd.

Unfortunately, the soldiers in the Knightmares didn't have that disadvantage. They charged forward, clearing the distance between them and their targets with frightening speed.

"You cowardly Elevens!" Villetta shouted as she took aim with her Sutherland's rifle. She got off a couple shots at the fleeing trio before having to fall back and dodge as Kewell opened fire on her with his own knightmare.

"_Zero and Kururugi must escape! Nobody will stop them!_" he roared as he charged forward, spraying gunfire wildly. Bullets whizzed through the air in all directions, hitting cars, the buildings, and just barely missing a few lucky bystanders.

"Get out of my way!" Villetta shouted back as herself and the other Sutherlands rushed Kewell from two sides. Kewell responded by pulling some sort of canister out of a compartment in his knightmare and throwing it at Villetta.

Lelouch didn't stick around to see how this would turn out. Without further ado, he threw himself and Suzaku over the edge of the bridge. Kallen leapt over just as a bullet whizzed through the spot her head had been. Ohgi was waiting below in his own knightmare, and fired a net that safely caught them before they hit the ground.

They climbed out of the net and dropped down to a waiting train that they'd commandeered prior to the rescue. Several other members of the resistance were waiting on-board for them and pulled them up into the train car. They could still hear the chatter of the gunfire from the battle on the bridge above as they boarded the train. Some of the resistance members undid Suzaku's restraints, but continued to closely watch him as he settled in. Zero had warned them that Kuururugi was, at least for now, staunchly loyal to Brittannia, and need to be watched lest he try something.

"It worked! I can't believe we actually did it!" Ohgi whooped in joy over Lelouch's helmet's built in radio.

"It's not over yet. Get out of here and meet back with us at the rendezvous point." Lelouch radioed back. "Yoshitaka, get us out of here!"

Immediately, the train began moving down the tracks back away from the settlement. Kallen and the others cheered as the sounds of gunfire slowly faded away as they sped away into the night.

They ditched the train on the tracks once it passed into the ghetto. Lelouch instructed the driver that he'd "convinced" to help them to return to the settlement and forget the events of that night. Everyone (with the obvious exception of Suzaku) returned to the hideout in high spirits, and began celebrating their first official victory over Britannia. They knew that they owed this success to their masked benefactor, and it was apparent that Lelouch had won their trust.

Before the festivities could really get underway, Lelouch took Suzaku outside to speak privately.

"...I guess you're going to ask me to join your organization now?" Suzaku somberly asked once they were out of earshot.

"Not exactly." Lelouch replied. "I'm curious about something Private Kuururgi and I hope you can enlighten me. Tell me, why do you serve Brittannia? Why does the son of Japan's last Prime Minister loyally serve the country who encourages the oppression of his countrymen?"

Suzaku's expression hardened. "I serve the military _for_ my people." he responded. "I know what Brittannia stands for and I want to change things, but I have to use the system to do it. If I tried to fight, tried to be like you, I'd accomplish nothing, and only encourage others to do the same. This cycle of hate and violence...it has to end!" Suzaku bowed his head as he finished, expecting some sort of violent reaction to his answer.

"I agree." was the only reply he heard. Suzaku looked up, surprised.

"This fighting must end. We must have a gentler world. But the only to do that is to _force_ the world to change!" Lelouch boomed. "The world is too corrupt to change on its own, Private. If you try to change the system, from within, you will only end up becoming a part of the corruption. I do not wish for violence or warfare, but I have no choice but to acknowledge they are the only way. In this world, the ends truly do justify the means."

Suzaku seemed to consider this for a moment before asking, "Tell me, if you didn't rescue me to recruit me, why did you? And did you really kill Clovis?"

"I will not lie Private, I truly am Clovis' killer. The reason I rescued you is because like you, I believe in justice. Letting an innocent man suffer for my actions would go against everything I hold dear, just as joining me would violate your principles. I cannot force you to join me. If you wish it, you are free to go."

Suzaku nodded, and then began walking back towards the settlement. "I can understand your reasoning Zero, but I cannot agree with it." he said over his shoulder. "I won't try to arrest you this time, but next time we meet, it must be as enemies. You are a good man Zero, it's a shame you've chosen to use terrorism to realize your goals."

Lelouch smiled sadly. "I understand. But I hope you remember that while it wasn't my intention to recruit you tonight, should you ever lose your faith in the Brittannian system, there will always be a place for you here. Farewell for now."

'And so it begins...' he thought as he watched Suzaku walk away. All the pieces were in place now for his war to being anew. It would be a difficult battle, even with his knowledge of the future. But with the strength and faith of the Black Knights behind him, he knew he could not fail, even if Suzaku did not see reason.

"Let the game begin." he said to himself as he went back inside to rejoin his comrades.


End file.
